Jewel of My Eye
by Kaz McDonell Miller
Summary: One-shot. Knuckles is contemplating his conflicting feelings as he resides in his solitary environment on Angel Island...and soon receives an unexpected visit from an unexpected person.


**jewel of my eye**  
written by:_ sylenis_

It was indeed a lovely summer night—the naturally lit skies were brightened by the stars that scattered throughout the pitch black oblivion. The climate was quite comfortable...even though it was a little bit too humid, a gentle breeze accompanied the heat. Especially if you were to be so high up in the sky, where the heat rises, it was like warm air blowing all around, but when you got used to it, it felt quite nice against your skin. The trees swayed with delight, almost seeming as if they were doing a synchronized dance. Up in this angelic residence, known as the only floating island to date was the Guardian. Also known as Knuckles the Echidna.

He was a silent one, not one to speak unless necessary. Considering he lived alone except for the smaller seemingly insignificant animal residents that inhabited the island, he spoke nothing. Yes, he thought a lot, but certainly not out loud. Even though he had the freedom to speak his mind because no one would be able to judge him, there was no one to listen, either...besides, his thoughts were nothing of importance. Can't an echidna help but wonder why it's so warm up here and seemingly much cooler down there? That the eerie sounds behind him seem to be coming to get him? That the trees looked like they were dancing? That he was the last of his species...and why he's had to live in solitude for most of his life? The rest of his life...?

He shook his head abruptly, startling a little mouse creature, watching as it scurried off into its burrow, with its...family. Knuckles was sitting at the bottom of the entire pedestal of the Master Emerald. Leaning back, he turned his head to aim his view directly up to the sky. The green soft glow of the rather large emerald was pulsing steadily...as it had always been. Nothing new to see here. Time to move on. The echidna suddenly felt a dismal dreariness crawl up against him...he had this odd longing to talk to someone besides constantly thinking to himself. It wasn't even boredom that was bugging him. He was lonely.

...Or so he's noticed for the past decade...he climbed up the long stairs to the Master Emerald, and sat. He placed a gloved paw upon its glistening glory...oh, how he longed for it to speak to him. In his sleep, he'd always have dreams where Tikal would speak to him, which is why Knuckles always looked forward to the middle of the night. It seemed as if she were the only one that could be able to aid him in his misery, only by being asleep. So, you would consider this being to be constantly sleeping awake. Normally, the echidna would take some large leaves off of the trees that were planted around the island, and make a bed on the moist grass. Tonight, he was unusually exhausted, so he curled up in front of the emerald, and closed his eyes.

It was only some minutes that passed when someone decided to take a tour of the island for herself. She strained to flap her tired wings and finally landed in a safe spot. She let out a yelp of success and stretched her body, relaxing herself. She stopped for a moment to take everything in.

"Oh, wow...this is lovely. A bit humid up here, but most certainly lovely," she smiled, little fangs protruding. She took in a deep breath and cupped her hands on each side of her mouth.

"KNUCKLES! I KNOW YOU'RE UP HERE!" she echoed. Hearing no response, she giggled to herself. He could be asleep...or,he could be ignoring her. Or he could possibly be preparing a lethal weapon to get anyone out of his territory.

"Ah, silly me...I'll just take a gander around here, shouldn't be _too_ hard to find him." The bat-girl assumed that her fuzzy red companion would be, of course, taking watch of that beautiful Master Emerald. And what better place could it be located than smack in the middle of the island?

The bat took a bit of a hike. She landed right on the edge—she could always fly, but something told her to get in as much of the island as she could. It was much too lovely to pass up anyway. As she brushed her way through some large spider plants, she moved them out of her view and there was that Emerald. There wasn't any sign of Knuckles...then she got the sudden adrenaline rush to rush up and touch it. No, no…she couldn't do that. Not after all he'd been through to get each and every shard...with her aid, of course. But she could at least take a peek...or stare at it for a few hours. How she loved that gem!

Rouge ran up the opposite side of the pedestal, and seated herself right in front of the emerald.

"It's so beautiful…" she breathed, as she reached up to run her fingers against the glass—that's when a large fist grabbed her wrist, startling her.

"Ah!"

"Please don't tell me you're trying to steal _my_ emerald again..." Knuckles spoke in a tired, but very firm voice. He was glancing at her with a look of sternness, but a bit of confusion etched into it.

"I-I—Knuckles! I didn't see you around," the bat-girl stammered. "I wasn't trying to take it, really...whatever gave you that idea?" she asked, snatching her arm away. "Did you forget? I decided to drop my jewel obsession for now. I've realized all it does it get me into trouble...and I never get any of my own, anyway," she paused, a look of flusteredness all over her face. "Can't you say 'hi' to a girl?"

"If I could even consider you a girl," Knuckles mumbled, folding his arms across his chest. "What are you doing up here then?" he'd noticed that she wasn't wearing her quite revealing spy outfit as he'd only seen her in...just a simple pink t-shirt and fitting pants with open-toed sandals. "Well?" Rouge looked down, a bit embarrassed.

"I wanted to see you, that's all. You don't have to intimidate me like that..." she faced up, and saw that he was giving her an unusually skeptical look. "What?! Don't you believe me? I don't see any sign on your island that says 'no people allowed'."

"It's not that..." Knuckles contemplated. "I'm just wondering why you, of all people, would want to check up on lame old me? There's a catch to this, isn't there?" He got into a fighting stance.

"No, no no, you silly echidna!" Rouge facefaulted. "Is there a law against worrying about a friend?"

She'd just considered him a friend. Knuckles took this as a shock—as if she slapped him across the face.

"Uh?" he blurted. Rouge sighed, a sweatdrop forming on her head. "You really are naïve, aren't you...? Sit yourself down. It's kind of late, and you do need to relax, after all."

"Not really. I can stay up all night if I wanted to," he remarked knowing that his comment wasn't entirely true. She gave him a side-glance, wondering if he was trying to drive her away.

"I'll stay up with you, then."

"No, no…I'm fine, trust me. I don't need any help whatsoever," he mumbled again, turning away. Rouge sighed heavily. This was going to be quite difficult. She could get better responses than this by talking to a rock. They were both silent for a time being, the breeze occasionally lifting and settling. Rouge thought of various ways to get the echidna's attention, imagining the very same response for each and every one of her attempts. Then she began to mumble about how guys can be just so darn incoherent at times.

"What did you say?" Knuckles questioned, not turning his view to her. _Well, he's paying attention to my presence, that's for sure_, Rouge thought.

"Nothing…nothing." She paused. "Don't you ever get…lonely up here?" she finally came out with it, hoping not to prod his feelings. She knew that it was impossible for a living being such as he to not get lonely. He didn't say anything, just slightly lowered his head. Maybe it was the wrong choice of words…

Rouge bit her lower lip, highly embarrassed at her current situation. Why wouldn't he want to confide in her, anyway? From the looks of it up here and her knowledge of his lonesome duty, she knew for a fact that all he had was her. Was it the lack of trust? She wished so hard that she knew of the purpose of the Master Emerald sooner so she wouldn't have attempted to steal it.

Knuckles seemed to be the type to hold a grudge for let's say…forever? It meant a lot to him, now that she knew. Of course, it _was_ a gorgeous jewel…but now she wouldn't dream of stealing it anymore. Well, maybe a few dreams might sneak into her subconscious…but she'd disregard them. Besides, she's found new reasons to live. Now was the time to fully validate one of those reasons. And suddenly, Knuckles sighed.

"Yes…yes, I do get lonely. I'm always wondering 'why do I have to watch that emerald? What kind of curse is this?' But this is my duty. I need to stick to it. Because I am one with the Master Emerald. And I won't let anyone stand in my way."

"You finally answered…took you long enough, too. I was getting quite worried," Rouge smiled warmly at him, hoping he'd turn to her. And he did. He blinked for a second, and smiled back, just slightly. Seemed more like a smirk, but it was a plenty coming from the distressed one. And that was the very first time she'd actually seen one on his face…what she didn't know was how he was thinking about how unusually attractive the bat-girl was.

"That did feel a lot better though, I must admit," he looked up to the stars. "It's the reality I must face…for the rest of my life. But, I might as well. An Emerald that keeps my only home running can't watch itself, now." Rouge nodded in agreement.

"Well…I wish you luck. Lots of it. I mean, look at what you've been through already," she began to stand.

"You don't even know the half of it," Knuckles snorted. "Eggman himself has been after it since…a long time ago. Tricked me into thinking it was Sonic who wanted it. I can't help but suspect him though—you too—but maybe…ah, I don't know. I just have to protect it, that's all." He leaned back against it, sighing boredly. It hurt her a little bit to know that he still suspected her, but hey. At least he wasn't sugar-coating it.

"Okay…well, I'm off then." Rouge began to dust herself off, and then she turned her head down to the echidna, lowering her wings.

"Be well…" he muttered, eyes closed.

"You sure you don't mind my presence?"

"Not anymore. You're welcome to come as you please, just…don't try to steal my Emerald again."

Rouge laughed half-heartedly, scratching the back of her head. He was so stubborn sometimes. She almost adored that quality of his. "I won't, I won't…trust me, if I did, I would've run off with it long time ago." Knuckles raised a brow at her and shrugged. Then he sat back and relaxed again.

"OK."

"Don't forget. I'm not all that crazy about jewels anymore. So your Emerald is not in danger." She started on her heel, walking off.

"I believe you."

"Good night then…"

"See you soon. I hope."

The bat-girl turned around slowly, giving the echidna a '_really_…' kind of expression. She smiled yet again, as she was trying hard not to. His eyes were still closed. She silently trotted over to where he was, getting down on one knee. She grabbed his face, and planted a kiss on his lips. A rather delicate, but nice one, too. The echidna was undoubtedly startled, and watched as she opened her eyes, and stood up. Both of them were blushing. She smiled at him one last time, giving a little salute and quickly walking off. Knuckles scratched his head with his rather large glove and thought…

"It tasted like…sugar…"


End file.
